Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Beautiful people

"Nobody in TERI gets money for anything he or she does as part of his or her job," says R K Pachauri, in this recent television interview on the Indian "Beautiful People" slot. He continues:

P. I'm afraid this is all part of a slanderous campaign, perhaps the same people – and I don't want to make any allegations – I can only draw some inferences. They attempted to steal those e-mails ... now that petered out so now what do they do? They look at me, I'm visible, I’m all over the world ... I've a feeling that this is all part of an orchestrated campaign ... there are powerful people ...

Q. ... to discredit the climate movement and slow down the momentum, do you think?

P. What would be more effective than damaging the chairman of the IPCC? Because then the IPCC gets a bad name as well ... It is my job to advise people. I would even advise them, provided they listen to my advice. Maybe the Telegraph should start investing in some renewable energy devices. Maybe they should help some poor countries where you need to adapt to the impacts of climate change rather than publishing trash on their pages.

Q. You cannot turn a blind eye to these accusations?

P. Well, I mean, I can turn a blind eye to it but I think if they get away with something like this with me, er ...

Q. It damages the cause?

P. And tomorrow they'll try it with somebody else. So, you know, I think we're living in a world where hopefully there's a rule of law and er, people can't indulge in slander of this kind by telling lies and get away with it. So I certainly am looking at my options and keeping them open.

That was on 1 January. He's still keeping his options open, although he has sent a letter to the Telegraph - by snail mail - demanding publication. The interviewer concludes by asking Pachauri if it is going to be a busy year in 2010. It's going to be even busier after Sunday and, from what I gather, we are not going to be the only ones publishing a story.